Development of Solar Powered Micro-irrigation Applicator for Dryland Agriculture

Abstract

In India, 58% of net sown area is under dryland agriculture, where rain is the only source of irrigation water.  Sowing is usually done in dryland whenever the ground is wet due to rainfall. But, if there is no rainfall within 30-40 days after sowing, the crop will be under severe dry spell condition and many a times the crop fails due to which the farmer incurs heavy losses. To solve this problem, a solar operated micro-irrigation applicator was developed and tested at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU), Hisar, Haryana, India. The machine consists of body structure with inbuilt 500 litres capacity water storage tank, solar panels, battery, solar charger, mono-block pump set with DC motor, transportation wheel and  drip irrigation system.  Water has to be taken from the pond where rain water has been stored during rainy season.   The machine works on solar power and can be installed anywhere in remote area.  In the last week of January, 2019, at CCSHAU, Hisar, the average solar insolation was 948 W/m2 and the average voltage developed by the solar panels was 12.86 V.  The average discharge rate of dripper and sprinkler were 79.9 and 640.2 ml/minute, respectively. The performance of the machine was evaluated in bottle gourd and it was found to be satisfactory to save the crop under dry spell conditions.